Welcome back to edition #29 of the report!

Today’s edition will dive into Meta’s launch of the Orion AR glasses, Major League Baseball and Improbable pioneering interoperability & California mandating clarity for consumers that they are licensing, not purchasing games on storefronts.

Contents: Edition #29

• Meta launches new Orion AR glasses

• MLB’s Virtual Ballpark makes interoperability a reality

• California Law mandates storefronts be clear it is licensing, not purchasing

Let’s get into it…

Meta launches new Orion AR glasses

Meta has introduced Orion, its first true set of augmented reality (AR) glasses. Orion allows users to interact with digital elements overlaid on the physical world in real-time and features immersive AR capabilities, hands-free interaction, and seamless connectivity with Meta’s broader ecosystem.

Why You Should Care

It’s agreed that Big Tech’s next battleground is going to be immersive, right?

It looked like Apple were in the driving seat with the Vision Pro, but Meta’s unveiling this week, the Orion AR glasses, may well have just put the cat amongst the pigeons. 

The device, weighing in at under 100 grams, has a 70 degree field of view as well as a neural interface, which theoretically should lead to a more hands-free environment over the AR environment.

Cool, huh? It certainly has more of a feel of ‘everyday use’ about it than the Vision Pro, but hold your horses - the device is still in development, and is reportedly costing Meta a whopping $10,000 to produce…

That doesn’t necessarily scream a consumer ready price point just yet, but much like the Vision Pro, this is just the starting point and you’d expect future iterations to achieve a more realistic price if they’re hoping to hit the mass market.

In any case, why is the launch interesting for you folks?

Content!

In Apple’s Vision Pro launch in 2023, they highlighted numerous sports, entertainment & gaming experiences that they were planning to bring (or already had live) on the headset.

The interesting part about Orion? Whereas the Vision Pro could perhaps be seen to want to try and replicate an experience away from the IRL event, Orion will look to enhance the physical event by overlaying holographic images onto the environment.

This could potentially unlock a number of opportunities, ranging from the basics of just overlaying data whilst a fan is watching a match, to some very creative experiential brand activations leveraging AR and more.

And the stats are positive for both brands looking at immersive & consumers seeing it as a technology they’ll utilise, with 61% of brands planning to integrate AR into their marketing campaigns by 2024 (The Drum) & 50% of consumers showing an interest in AR/VR (PwC).

The promise of immersive experiences is undoubtedly tantalising, and as the hardware begins to become more accessible to brands and consumers, we’ll really start to get a gauge for people’s appetite for AR/MR/XR experiences, and whether they’ll become a key part of fan/consumer engagement strategies.

Personally, I’m bullish on any technology/product/hardware that can help enhance and improve an IRL experience, so look forward to keeping a tab on Meta’s developments over the coming months & years.

As for things that are live now…

MLB’s Virtual Ballpark makes interoperability a reality 

The first-ever interoperability demonstration took place during an MLB game between the Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Rays, with Bored Apes avatars making an appearance. The integration of Improbable’s Metaverse Markup Language helped to define interactive 3D content that can seamlessly run across different virtual spaces and engines.

Why you should care?

Interoperability. A word certain to come up on any reputable web3 & metaverse crossword…

Despite its lengthy name, interoperability is fairly straightforward - it simply means being able to take an asset from one place to another.

This concept underpins the ‘open metaverse’ thesis, and depending on which side of the fence you sit on, the way this becomes achievable seems to either be:

1. Blockchain (feasible, but not without its cross-chain challenges)

2. Universal Game Development Standards (feasible, but not possible without buy-in from numerous usual competitors)

I think anyone that works across the industry can see the incredible value (for consumers and brands alike) that cross-platform interoperability can bring, as well as being able to unite your community in a digital environment that can mimic the experience IRL.

But just how complex is it to make this a reality, and how can you ensure that your brand/identity is portrayed in a consistent manner in whatever environment it enters?

Technical considerations

Over the summer I attended an event where Improbable’s Chief Product Officer, Rob Whitehead (also a SEG3 London alumni!) shared more into the intricacies of actually making a large-scale virtual experience like MLB’s Virtual Ballpark a reality, and I have to say, for my non-technical brain, it was fascinating.

The biggest takeaway I garnered was that the norm has been that many servers/games are designed to host numerous small lobby’s (whether Fortnite Battle Royale where it’s 100, or CS:GO where it’s 10 in each lobby), but none have been capable of catering to large groups of people like physical social experiences as ramping up the numbers makes things MUCH more complicated from a technical perspective.

Given the reach of global sports franchises and the unique environment that watching live sports creates, it would seem MLB tasked Improbable to recreate that scale for their virtual ballpark, which traditional options just couldn’t provide. 

Solving the infrastructure challenge to be able to host these mass digital experiences is one part of the puzzle, but creating content and enabling interoperability are just as vital components to making it a reality.

Which brings me onto the next point…

Commercial/IP Considerations

The economics behind interoperability. What’s the commercial rationale behind this for the likes of Major League Baseball?

From the release, Improbable’s CEO Herman Narula, said:

For MLB, you’d assume that there is value in:

1) Being able to engage with complementary communities (like BAYC)

Despite the general cooling of interest around NFT collections, BAYC is still one of the most-recognisable and well-followed web3 native projects out there, with an engaged and highly affluent audience. MLB being able to lean into Improbable’s ecosystem of partners to drive these unique experiences and collaborations is not something we typically see outside of web3, but this cross-fertilisation is a value add and will undoubtedly introduce baseball to groups that may not have interacted with the sport otherwise.

2) Have their global audience showcasing their fandom across multiple platforms

We all know that sports fans have their favourite clubs/franchises as part of their identity. This is core to them and they want to show it off. This rings true in the virtual world too, so being able to have a persistent identity/avatar that represents them in any environment is an important step towards a truly open metaverse.

3) Controlling how their IP is used and where

From the release, it is Metaverse Markup Language (MML) that is “allowing businesses to develop and share IP assets while maintaining complete control and security, ensuring that brand and intellectual property remain protected”. 

Although the current narrative is shifting towards sharing/building IP with your community or incentivising them to get creative with the brand (UGC), that is still a very alien and scary concept to traditional brands across sports, entertainment or games where the lion share of value and revenue is derived from the IP.

Despite this, it is a trend that we’ll continue to see grow in popularity as consumers demand more from their favourite brands, so being able to test the waters in virtual environments whilst still retaining control is likely the middle-ground a lot of brands will need and seek. 

We’ve seen examples of this outside of web3 with LEGO experimenting with Epic Games around their IP/assets being used in UEFN experiences, which they can then monetise off of, all whilst putting clear parameters in place about how their IP can and can’t be used. More on this all the way back in edition #2 for those interested!

In any case, whether web3 enabled or not, mass digital experiences that can replicate the social environment and thrills of IRL sporting experiences will in time become the norm - so, much like Meta’s Orion glasses, it’s exciting to see the infrastructure catching up to the vision and look forward to seeing what MLB & Improbable have in store next.

On the topic of stores…

California Law mandates storefronts be clear it is licensing, not purchasing

A new California law, passed on September 24, mandates digital storefronts, including video game platforms, to inform consumers that they are licensing—not owning—the digital content they purchase. The law prohibits the use of terms like "buy" or "purchase" without clear clarification that users are acquiring a license. Storefronts must provide a "plain language statement" before the transaction, making consumers aware that digital items, including games, can be removed from their libraries if the seller loses the rights.

This law was driven by concerns over media acquisitions and contracts that have recently caused consumers to lose access to content they believed they owned, such as Ubisoft removing The Crew due to licensing issues, and Sony temporarily revoking access to certain TV shows on PlayStation after licensing arrangements expired.

Why you should care

Ever thought you’ve bought a film or game, only to change console/device and it doesn’t travel with you?

Well, if you didn’t know you were just licensing the content and felt short-changed, the state of California is on your side!

From last week, the US state is requiring storefronts (like Steam) to make consumers overtly aware that they are not purchasing the content, instead, they are just licensing it.

The shift to purchasing games digitally has been the prevailing model for many years now, with improved distribution for publishers and increased accessibility for gamers, it has somewhat simplified the purchasing process.

But what’s the consensus from gamers? Preference towards physical ownership, and having non-revocable copies, or stick with the ease of digital downloads?

This reddit thread from this summer has some insights into their preferences…

The TL;DR:

• Physical copies still bring a nostalgia that many gamers appreciate

• Some still value physical ownership, and the flexibility it can give to you to sell it on if you’d like to

BUT

• The convenience of the likes of Steam and the ease of having access to every downloaded game ever purchased (or I should say licensed) vs media becoming outdated and unplayable when systems/consoles are updated means many prefer digital

• Many gamers will go with whatever route is cheaper!!

This is obviously a small sample size, but the overwhelming consensus from the thread seems to be that gamers are happy with the trade-off of not owning their games so that they can have more flexibility on cost and accessibility.

The shift to digital is unstoppable, but there is undoubtedly still a relatively staunch group of gamers that are in the market for physical copies, so it’ll be interesting to keep a track on publishers' distribution methods. 

The reality? Both sides of the equation will do whatever makes the most sense for their wallet…

In other news this week…

A quick round-up of other stories you should be across from the past 7 days:

• Experiential Marketing gains priority for over 80% of brands

• Asics announces Disc - it’s first step into virtual sports

• Scopely adds Marvel superheroes to Monopoly GO

• Verizon & FIFA team up for 2026 World Cup to power experiences

• MLB launches all 30 jerseys into Roblox

• L’Oreal Paris’ virtual runway on Roblox has 1 million players in just 5 days

• Pudgy Penguins launches Pudgy Arcade

• Pixar’s Incredibles are coming to Fortnite

• Runway launches ‘Hundred Film Fund’

• Google launches Roblox Experience

Working on anything cool, or have a press release you would like us to cover? Send it in for the chance for it to be covered in next week’s edition!

That’s all for now - thanks again for reading the latest edition of The SEG3 Report!

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